All posts tagged ‘Surround sound’

I’ve long been a fan of surround sound headphones for gaming. Over the last few years I have used a variety of headphones, but I think the best I’ve used so far are the Turtle Beach: Earforce Tango. The kind folks at Turtle Beach loaned me a pair before the holiday break so I sat down for a couple marathon sessions of Call of Duty Black Ops II.

The Earforce Tango is one of five new Black Ops II themed headsets by Turtle Beach. They include three surround models, the Tango, Sierra, and X-Ray, as well two stereo models, the Kilo and Earforce Earbuds. The Tango and X-Ray are the only wireless ones with the Tango topping the list at about $299 MSRP, though I found them online much cheaper.

In my experience there are two things that matter most for gaming headphones, sound quality and comfort. The Tango is the best in both of these departments of any gaming headset that I’ve used yet. It doesn’t excel at everything, but for these two reasons alone I’d pick it over the others I’ve tried. Continue Reading “Black Ops II Themed Turtle Beach Headphones” »

I’m a gamer. Not a serious, spend all night (at least not often) playing games type, but still a gamer. I’ve played a lot of Call of Duty on Xbox Live in the last couple years, and while I rank well enough, it is obvious that the younger kids definitely have an advantage when it comes to reflexes. I have managed to find a few ways that technology can shave a little off that advantage.

The most important advantage is a good network connection, though this is often the one thing we have the least control over. Routers that allow you to set Quality of Service (QoS) on gaming packets can help, as can reducing bandwidth usage. Stop the torrents and kick the kids off Netflix.

A nice TV. Bigger is better, up to a point. If you have to turn your head to see the edges of the screen you may have gone too far. I use a 42″ LCD with an HDMI cable to the Xbox. Some people say that HDMI adds some latency, but I didn’t notice a difference when I switched from composite. Sit up close to the TV. My aging eyes are still pretty good at picking up movement, but not from across the room.

However, the one thing that had the greatest impact on my K/D ratio was a pair of surround sound headphones. Just upgrading from a cheap pair of stereo headphones was enough to bump my Free-for-All K/D from about 1 to 1.4. It takes a little while to get used to the sound, but once you do, you’ll be able to hear your opponents around the corner, and gauge exactly when start shooting. Continue Reading “Improve Your Game With Technology And The Turtle Beach XP400″ »

The breadth of performance specs on the Razer Tiamat 7.1 would make some high claims indeed. The headset is positioned by the manufacturer as the first true 7.1 surround sound headset. The circumaural Razer Tiamat 7.1 deploys ten individual drivers in its headphone unit that are configured to create what is meant to be a multi-positional sound experience. There are two sub-woofer drivers, two front drivers, two center drivers, two side surround and two back surround drivers. The outer cover of the ear cups is see-through so you can peer at the drivers in plain view. There are removable ear cup covers that clip on with magnetic connectors, restoring the coolness factor for those who don’t want their drivers hanging out for all to see. Accommodating the extra drivers pushes the size of the headphones’ housing to largish proportions — something that makes me look like a silhouette of Princess Leia. But the Razer Tiamat 7.1 carries this ear-side bulkiness with a touch of panache.

There is a fully retractable microphone that pops out with ease from the left ear cup. It also has a flexible tip to position the mic more strategically during game-play so you can gauge the ideal distance for your input (screaming, yelling, imprecations, cursing) during intense bouts of game-play in the darkness of the man-cave.

If you liked 2012, you’re gonna love this one: “10 Ways to Destroy the Earth” and eleven other episodes that will fascinate you and make the most of your home entertainment system, while freaking out your kids. The Universe Season 4 seeks to educate, entertain and exhilarate. Spoiler alert: A lot of stuff blows up, and the Earth is often the target.

I was pretty excited to receive a review copy of season 4 of The Universe from The History Channel. I’ve seen a number of episodes from the first season, but I haven’t gotten around to renting other seasons. A&E sent me a Blu-ray version and I fired up the PS3, sat down with the kids in front of the big screen and prepared to be simultaneously awed and educated.

The producers of the series make good use of CGI to bring the universe to life. For the most part, the visuals are stunning and with the combination of HD presentation and decent surround sound, it makes for a very entertaining viewing experience. For the moment, this is the only way I’m aware of to see the Death Star (the Star Wars version, that is) in high definition, as the Galactic Empire’s ultimate weapon makes a cameo appearance in the first episode. There are spots where the animation stumbles a bit, especially in scenes with water vapor, but overall the eye candy looks good. Interview snippets with scientists and other experts in the field help to boost the educational quotient, but they’re often short segments that are obviously heavily edited. I couldn’t help but picture a twenty minute discussion on the constellation Sagittarius being edited down to ten seconds of “a binary death star in Sagittarius has Earth in its sights.” Adding an archer with a flaming arrow being launched at a target that erupts into flame is far from subtle. Repeating the flaming arrow strike to drive home the point is a little over the top.